[[Your]] left hand aches slightly. Clean, black stitches and a slight inflammation of the tissue where your ring-finger and pinky once were suggest recent amputation. [[You]] try and recall how you were injured and are struck by the sudden image of your hand on a barbed-wire fence, but the image is unclear half caught between memory and dream.

[[You]] cross to the desk. [[You]] are suddenly very concerned about your identity. Sadly, there is no word that seems to be a name inside of [[you]]. [[You]] take the hand-mirror carefully with both hands and raise it from the desk. Many possibilities for faces appear in [[your]] mind - a boy with red hair, a gleaming automaton with the face of a clown, a scarred crone with hooked nose. The mirror shows only the face of a woman. [[Your]] face is thin and pale, long hair the color of winter honey tied up into a sensible bun.

The book with the green cover is an illustrated edition of a poem called 'Kubla Khan'. The poet's name is Samuel Coleridge.. [[You]] lay on the bed and read it. The illustrations are colorful if strange. The language of the poem itself is beautiful but unfamiliar. [[You]] are midway through the poem, your eyes lingering on a picture of a fountain - when [[your]] attention is drawn again to the door and the music beyond.

The song is not familiar to you, though pleasant. [[You]] approach the door to listen more closely and a new sound reaches your ears. Sobbing. The panicked, gasping sobs of someone either wracked with utter grief or horrible pain.

[[You]] put your hand on the door. The crying stops with a sharp inhale of breath. Then you hear the steps.

Something large is on the other side of the door. A smell like wet leaves days before the rot. [[You]] can feel the floor shake. [[You]] don’t know why but you are afraid.

A voice slips under the door, whispering. “Help me, it’s coming.”

GAME STATE SAVED

USER INPUT REQUESTED

ALL PLAYERS NOW LOGGED OUT

RETURNING PLAYERS HAVE ACCESS TO COMMAND: QUERY

OBSERVER NODE AVAILABLE WHEN CONDITIONS ARE MET

SPR NODE PROMPT UNLOCKED

SYSTEM ONLINE

AWAITING INPUT

Runeclock is an experimental, interactive program. PLAYERS input commands using the comments section of the pertinent post on shadeauxpublicradio.com. The System will decipher all comments into executable input and then generate the next stage of the Session. Without input the System cannot function. All Users are registered as OBSERVERS by default but toggle their status to PLAYER when a command is entered.

Please include your PLAYER [[handle]] when posting.

As the Session grows in sophistication more commands may become available.

As with any complex System, the full extent of the simulation parameters is unknown. All USERS should be wary of emergent gameplay, unexpected coincidence, and a small degree of risk.

The System is waiting.

[NODE IS OPEN UNTIL 7/19/17 at NOON EST. ALL INPUT SENT AFTER THAT TIME WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED]